HH_110118

homerhorizon.com sports
the Homer Horizon | November 1, 2018 | 39
fastbreak
Tim Cronin/22nd Century
Media
1st and 3
LTHS boys and girls
cross country teams
both advance to state
1. Another year together
at state
The Lockport girls
cross country team
advanced to state
for the 10th-straight
season with a thirdplace
finish in the
sectional Saturday,
Oct. 27, at Bob Mays
Park in Quincy.
2. Making the cut
The LTHS boys cross
country team got
fifth place, earning
the last team
qualifying spot, in
its 3A sectional race
Saturday, Oct. 27, at
Bob Mays Park, in
Quincy.
3. Leading the pack
Porters sophomore
Josephine Bober
was 14th in the
sectional with a time
of 18:38 to lead the
girls, while Donovan
Paske led the Porter
boys by finishing
eighth overall in
15:39.
LTHS boys make cut for state
Lockport snags final state
qualifying spot at sectional
Tim Cronin, Freelance Reporter
Cross country is a sport that creates
selective memories.
Winning a big meet is an achievement,
and taking the conference
race earns a plaque, but the only
thing anyone seems to remember
is what happens in the state championship
race at Detweiller Park in
Peoria.
Lockport Township’s boys cross
country team has a chance to make
a memory there on Saturday.
The Porters took fifth place, the
last team qualifying spot, in the Saturday,
Oct. 27, 3A sectional race at
Bob Mays Park, scoring 126 points
to beat Yorkville by eight points.
Tom Razo, who has coached
the Porters since 1999, seemed
more relieved than anything. Not
everything went according to
his plan.
“Some of our guys got caught in
the moment, went out too hard,”
Razo said. “Others didn’t get out
hard, but they closed the gap, so it
went a little but both ways. But the
name of the game’s getting out [of
the sectional], so we live for another
week and we’ll go from there.”
The 3.05-mile course – about 100
yards longer than normal – features
a quicker funnel to the first turn
than many courses, and that turn is
a sharp 90-degree right-hander, so
position is everything in the early
going.
“Everyone was elbowing each
other,” said Donovan Paske, the
leading Porter runner, eighth overall
in 15:39. “All of the first mile was
Lockport’s Ross Cronhom pushes in the final mile Saturday, Oct. 27, at the
Quincy 3A sectional. Tim Cronin/22nd Century Media
awful. But we maintained. You’ve
got to realize it’s a three-mile race.
You’ve got to try to relax.”
Fellow senior Marc Schelli’s
16th-place finish was in 15:55.
“I think I’ve got to work more on
my second mile,” Schelli said. “I
fell off a lot during it. In the third
mile I started kicking again. I was
hanging back too much and I should
have kept going. I just need to get
out more controlled, save a little bit
for the second mile.”
Paske and Schelli are seniors.
This will be their last crack at a
state championship, and given they
were part of last year’s 25th-place
3A finish, they aim to improve.
“Today, not everyone did as great
as we wanted to, but we’ll learn
from it for next week,” Paske said.
With non-team runners in the field,
Lockport’s top five finished 8-15-24-
36-43, while Yorkville’s ran 9-26-
27-28-44. While the middle of the
Foxes’ pack ran together, Schelli and
Jacob Hinchley (24th in the team race
in 16:09) lifted the Porters into fifth.
And Aidan Pajeau, the fifth Porter
(48th in the team race), was 41.3 seconds
behind Paske.
Lockport’s other runners were
Ross Cronhom (39th, 16:25), Brendan
Diamond (51st, 16:34) and Alexander
Kistinger (67th, 16:49).
“I don’t think it was our best gap
of the year, but we made it out,”
Razo said.
Memories can be made of such
things.
Mo-Joe:
Coughlin
wins Pressbox
Picks title
Staff Report
Publisher Joe Coughlin is not exactly
sure how many Pressbox Picks
championships he has won over the
years.
“Maybe four,” he said.
He may be fuzzy on how many
titles he has taken in the south and
north branches of 22nd Century Media,
but he was dead on for most of
his prep football picks in the south
branch this year, as he clinched the
2018 title this week with a 56-10
mark.
“Wow. I am honored,” he said. “I
have a lot of people to thank — the
Titans of Tinley Park, my Knights
of Lincoln-Way Central and so on.
Hard work — reading game stories
right before deadline — really does
pay off.”
One of the picks that helped
him take a comfortable lead was
in Week 9 of the regular season,
when he was the only member of
the five-person panel to predict Tinley
Park (which was winless in the
South Suburban Blue) to knock off
T.F. South.
“Tinley burned me a couple times
this year, but I was not impressed
with T.F. South’s victories early
in the season,” said Coughlin, a
former editor of The Tinley Junction.
“They seemed very similar
to TPHS on paper, and when
in doubt, go Titans. That’s my
motto.”
As for the rest, Contributing Editor
James Sanchez and Editor Thomas
Czaja finished 53-13, Sports Editor
Jeff Vorva was 52-14 and Chief
Operating Officer Heather Warthen
finished 51-15.
LISTEN UP
“Everyone was elbowing each other. All of the first mile
was awful. But we maintained. You’ve got to realize
it’s a three-mile race. You’ve got to try to relax.”
Donovan Paske — LTHS boys cross country runner, on the
start of the race and his mindset while running
Tune In
Boys and Girls Cross Country
Heading downstate — Saturday, Nov. 3, at Detweiller Park in
Peoria
• After each team qualified for state, the LTHS boys and
girls cross country runners are ready to give it their all
at state competition.
Index
35 - Athlete of the Month
34 - Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor Thomas Czaja,
tom@homerhorizon.com.